31 January 2023 - runner's high

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses,

let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us

and persevere in running the race that lies before us

The heroic saints of the Old and New Testaments are not confined to ancient pages and stories. They surround us. We recently read about that Old Testament saints that "apart from us they should not be made perfect" (see Hebrews 11:40). Our shared faith causes us to be united in Christ not only with those living members of the Church, but also with those who have gone before us to the fullness of their reward. This means that past saints remain near us, cheering us on, sharing our lot, demonstrating genuine concern for those of us still running the race. Their prayers before the throne of God are powerful, able to help us "rid ourselves of every burden and sin" and to give us strength to "persevere in running the race that lies before us". As a runner might feel as though they hit a wall but then find the strength to overcome it from the cheers of a crowd so too are the prayers of the saints able to strengthen us when we feel like giving up.

while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus,

the leader and perfecter of faith.

The saints don't demand that we focus on them at the expense of the race which they know demands our entire focus. Instead they delight to see us looking to Jesus as the true goal of our race. He ran it first to show us the way and now he is present with us to perfect us on our own race as we follow after him.

For the sake of the joy that lay before him

Jesus endured the cross, despising its shame,

and has taken his seat at the right of the throne of God.

The joy that lay before Jesus was to perfectly complete the Father's will, to bring the human nature he had united to himself into the very life of the Blessed Trinity itself. For us, because we are united to Jesus, the same joy awaits, provided we don't give up or turn aside before the end of the race. The author of Hebrews is a realist. There will be obstacles. But seen in perspective they are nothing compared to the goal.

Consider how he endured such opposition from sinners,

in order that you may not grow weary and lose heart.

What precisely is the endurance demanded of us by this race? It is a struggle against sin, including against our many temptations toward sin, as well as opposition from committed sinners who reject the Christian way of life. We must not allow the pressure of temptations to cause us to quit the race, or even, if we can help it, to slow down. Jesus has done all he was able to do to help us in this race. He himself will be our strength if we will only take him at his word and keep running.

but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint (see Isaiah 40:31).

Even if we do collapse along the way it isn't necessary game over. This is true even if it has been many years since we last looked at the track, even if it seems impossible from a human perspective that we could find the strength to face it again. Jesus does not abandon us. We need only touch him with the touch of faith to be cured. We need only hear his voice to raise us up and make us strong again.

He took the child by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum,” 

which means, “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”

Once Jesus raises us to run the race again he will order that we "be given something to eat", the Eucharistic bread, to strengthen us for the race the remains. It is by the strength of this Sacrament that we can experience the promise of Isaiah to run and not be weary, even unto the goal, heaven itself.

Matt Maher - Run To The Father

30 January 2023 - heroes of faith

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Faith, thinking with ascent, is not merely about abstractions. Yes, it is ordered primarily to firth truth, that is, God himself. But it also considers all things as ordered to that first truth. That means that there is ultimately no aspect of life that is not a matter of faith. To broaden a little on Paul's meaning in Romans we can repeat that "whatever does not proceed from faith is sin" (see Romans 14:23). This is because, considered this way, that which does not proceed from faith is not properly referred to God. And if it is not it can only be set up in competition with and opposition to God.

I have not time to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,

of David and Samuel and the prophets,

who by faith conquered kingdoms, 

did what was righteous, obtained the promises;

The biblical heroes cited by the author of Hebrews were all individuals who lived by faith. They believed what was revealed to them by God, certain that God himself was worthy of their trust. As a consequence, the battles, challenges, and difficulties of their lives were taken up into a higher story and a more exulted narrative. They no longer fought on the basis of their own strength but in many cases, such as that of Gideon (see Judges 7), explicitly in spite of that strength so that the power of God could be revealed.

they closed the mouths of lions, put out raging fires,

Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, and Mishael were among those who were unwilling to waver on their commitment to the Lord no matter the consequences, and whom the Lord delivered in order to vindicate their faith. The mouth of the lions was closed by an angel (see Daniel 6) and although the three young men were thrown into the fiery furnace they walked out and "didn’t even smell of smoke" (see Daniel 3:27).

Some were tortured and would not accept deliverance,

in order to obtain a better resurrection.

We see from the reference to the Maccabean martyrs that faith was not always a recipe for immediate success. It was, however, a sure recipe for eventual and everlasting success, the only kind of success truly worthy of the name (see Second Maccabees 7:24). So too for Christians. Sometimes the Lord would deliver Christians from their difficulties, such as when angels set Peter free from prison (see Acts 12:6-19). But other times the Lord would allow difficulties and even martyrdoms in the world for the sake of a greater good known only in part in this life by faith. We see this in the death of Stephen this first martyr. He himself was rewarded with "a better resurrection" and planted seeds from which much growth in the early Church would result.

Yet all these, though approved because of their faith,

did not receive what had been promised.

God had foreseen something better for us,

so that without us they should not be made perfect.

If the heroes of the Old Testament where able to live such powerful lives with a faith that was only vague and shadowy what ought we Christians who have the fullness of the faith be able to do? We see Jesus, the fulfillment of every promise, and know that he has forever connected all sufferings that we choose to unite with his own to the power of his resurrection. This was the veiled hope of all of the Old Testament heroes. But for those of us for whom this hope is explicit let us learn to allow it more completely govern our entire lives, to refer all that we are to God by living out our faith.

As they approached Jesus,

they caught sight of the man who had been possessed by Legion,

sitting there clothed and in his right mind.

Jesus has the power to restore ourselves and our world to the fullness of our humanity, of what it means to be creatures created in the image of God. He can heal us of our tendencies of violence toward others and self harm and restore us to our right minds. Surely the world is in some metaphorical sense in the grip of a demon like Legion. We believe that Jesus himself is absolutely able to bind this demon and set the world free. Let us seek this from him in prayer. Let us be ready to become witnesses to the glory that results.

But Jesus would not permit him but told him instead,

“Go home to your family and announce to them

all that the Lord in his pity has done for you.”

Maranatha! Music - The Battle Belongs To The Lord

29 January 2023 - kingdom paradigm

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain,

and after he had sat down, his disciples came to him.

Jesus is presented here as a new Moses. Moses went up a mountain in order to receive the ten commandments on the tablets of stone, given to him by God. But Jesus was one greater than Moses and did not go up the mountain to receive but rather to give. The setting itself was an indication that we should pay special attention to the teaching with which Jesus "began to teach them". It was, in a way, the new law of the New Covenant, not so much in the sense of presenting a list of moral obligations, but in the sense that, as the decalogue in particular became the paradigmatic lens through which Jews viewed all of life, so too would the beatitudes now become the new interpretive keys to life in the Messianic age.

Blessed are the poor in spirit,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

At one level, this was a reversal of the common expectations of the world that it was the rich who were blessed and the poor who were cursed. Not only were the poor not under a curse, Jesus said, but they were loved in a special way by God. At another level it was meant to apply to everyone, even those not materially poor. Jesus called everyone to a poverty, at least of spirit, if not of wealth. The opposite of this beatitude can be seen in the rich young ruler who went away sad because he had many possessions (see Matthew 19:22). Yet possessing the possessions was not the primary problem. It was rather that they impinged his freedom to follow Jesus. Jesus himself was the exemplar of one who did not allow riches to deter him from his mission. 

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich (see Second Corinthians 8:9).

Although we tend to find the first of the beatitudes admirable the second seems more difficult, still counterintuitive even to the modern Christian mind.

Blessed are they who mourn,

for they will be comforted.

It seems as though we still secretly expect Christianity to be a way of life that can remove all sorrow from our hearts and from the world. We either expect it can do this in a subjective way, by numbing us to it, or else by fixing all of the disordered social structures in the world. But either way, we seem to expect a world where mourning is no longer necessary or appropriate. Jesus, however, seemed to be saying that his disciples would live amidst imperfection and yet should hold on to the desire and vision for something better. They would live in a world marred by sin, that of themselves, and that of others, and they would mourn that sin. Jesus knew that it was necessary for his followers to mourn as a part of maintaining compassion, both for themselves and for others. It was the only way that mercy could be received, because the alternative was a lukewarmness that was indifferent to the need for mercy. As with the first beatitude so too here we see Jesus himself was demonstrating the principle in his own life.

When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept. (see John 11:33-35).

Blessed are the meek,

for they will inherit the land.

It did not seem to people in Jesus' day that the meek would inherit the land. It seemed rather that it would be the prerogative of the strong to do so. The Romans did in fact seem to have all but inherited the land in virtue of their strength. Many expected that the Messiah would restore the promised land to Israel in virtue of a strength that was greater still. But it was rather by his weakness that Jesus would open the promised land to his disciples. As God he was in fact so infinitely strong that he had no need to compete with the world on its own terms. Even his weakness was stronger than the strength of men.

For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men (see First Corinthians 1:25).

Meekness has been defined as "strength under control". It is not meant to be the posture of doormat that has no role in the world but to be dormant, inactive, and trampled. It is rather an active role that nevertheless does not rely upon force, upon any strength stemming from the self, but rather relies on God in the absence of self-sufficiency.

Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise,

and God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong,

and God chose the lowly and despised of the world,

those who count for nothing,

to reduce to nothing those who are something,

so that no human being might boast before God.

Jesus knew that meekness was an important prerequisite for those "who hunger and thirst for righteousness". That level of discontent with the lack of righteousness in the world would be dangerous for anyone seeking to bring it about by human strength. But Jesus did ask his followers to experience the privation of righteousness in a visceral way. In a sense, he was saying it was more important than mere food and drink. But what, finally, was righteousness? It was not simply everyone in the world acting in a morally upright way. If there was to be that sort of righteousness it could only be a subset of individual righteousness before God. And that was something which could not be obtained for oneself by oneself alone. It could only come as a gift, "not a result of works, so that no one may boast" (see Ephesians 2:9). Again, we see Jesus was the exemplar of each beatitude he taught, prioritizing that which was fitting to "fulfil all righteousness" (see Matthew 3:15) above even food and drink.

My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work (see John 4:34).

Those who did not allow themselves to become lukewarm were the ones who would know the need of the world for mercy, and their own need especially. Jesus taught, paradoxically, that the mercy they now recognized they needed was could only be obtained by those willingness to show mercy. Only those willing to become a conduit for the divine mercy could truly experience it themselves. One who could receive the master's mercy and yet not show that same mercy to others had not truly allow mercy to run its course in his heart (see Matthew 18:23-35).

Blessed are the clean of heart,

for they will see God.

The clean of heart are those who ultimately see God because they desire it above all else. The heart is like a lens that is meant to be transparent to the light of God. But so much can accumulate on that lens as the render it almost completely opaque. The first layer of grime that must be removed is that of sin, but that is not the only layer that accumulates. We must next learn to free ourselves of that which is vain, desires which promise ultimate happiness that they cannot ultimately deliver. All of this is meant to train our hearts to desire that which alone can satisfy us. But this training is emphatically not something that we can control. On our own we will likely find our desires to be wild and untamable. We need the fire of the Spirit to burn away the worldly accumulation and to burn himself within us enabling us to desire, if we may put it this way, with his own desire.

Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?

And who shall stand in his holy place?

He who has clean hands and a pure heart,

who does not lift up his soul to what is false

and does not swear deceitfully (see Psalm 24:3-4).

Jesus called peacemakers blessed. But he did not chiefly mean those who surrendered, or even those who worked for a political peace, but rather those who genuinely worked to establish understanding and overcome division, between individuals a nations, yes, but also and especially between individuals and God. For it was this sort of peace, peace that the world could not give (see John 14:27), that was of the greatest concern for Jesus himself. Only being rooted in the peace of Jesus in their hearts would allow them to bring anything resembling peace into the world.

Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,

for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

The world is fundamentally unequipped to understand the way of righteousness or the path to the Kingdom. If the world was to express its beatitudes they would be almost a complete inversion of those given by Jesus. But since Jesus was the exemplar of the beatitudes he taught, since they were expressions of his own deepest heart, it was therefore Jesus himself who was the most misunderstood and maligned by the world. If we must too are asked to suffer for the sake of making the kingdom of heaven more of a reality in ourselves and in the world we can take comfort in knowing that we do not suffer merely for the sake of abstractions. We are in fact embracing Jesus himself, and by our union with him, allowing him to live out his life again through us. We can therefore take comfort in the midst of our afflictions, for they can all be united and shared with with Jesus himself. And when they are thus united they lead inexorably to the resurrection. We should add that this is not a promise only for the future life, but something which we can even now experience by faith. Hence the present tense of the promise, "theirs is the kingdom of heaven". The fullness, however, is yet to come.

Rejoice and be glad,

for your reward will be great in heaven."

Mark Schultz - Give Us Clean Hands

The Dameans - Beatitudes

28 January 2023 - evidence of things not seen

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Faith is the realization of what is hoped for

and evidence of things not seen.

Faith pertains to things that are not seen, realities in the future, or those things that are purely spiritual. But it is not about every invisible realities indifferently, not especially concerned with how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. It is rather specifically about those for which we hope, those that we desire at the deepest and most fundamental level of our hearts, for that which alone will fulfill us as creatures made in the image of God. It acts like evidence which assures us that those things are both real and possible to attain.

it should be noted that the act of faith is to believe, because it is an act of the intellect narrowed to one thing by the command of the will. Hence, to believe is to think with assent, as Augustine says in The Predestination of the Saints

- Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Hebrews 553

Faith is therefore not a matter of mere curiosity. It is by definition related to the attainment of our greatest good, which is God himself.

But the ultimate end of faith in heaven, which we tend toward by faith, is happiness, which consists in the clear vision of God: this is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent

- Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Hebrews 553

The author of Hebrews goes on from the definition of faith to provide examples of the heroic figures of the Old Testament who lived lives marked by faith. They chose to think with assent to the promises of God, promises ordered toward the realization of their hopes. They had to go on existing in a world where these promises remained unseen, but to continue acting on the belief that they would be fulfilled. 

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place

that he was to receive as an inheritance;

he went out, not knowing where he was to go.

Those who lived by faith in the Old Testament can provide examples to encourage us as well. They lived with a posture of trust so absolute that if God was not there to support them they would have collapsed. We too are meant to be radical in our trust in what God has revealed to us. We are meant to be able to look past appearances and the opinions of the crowds, and to live lives that might even appear reckless when seen without faith. 

They did not receive what had been promised

but saw it and greeted it from afar

and acknowledged themselves to be strangers and aliens on earth,

for those who speak thus show that they are seeking a homeland.

When those who are without faith in the world look at Christians they should see something mysterious and incomprehensible, because they should see a people set on a journey of pilgrimage toward a definite goal, progressing with the certainty of guidance, and yet themselves have no insight into the spiritual GPS that is leading them toward that goal. This could be another way in which faith can be considered evidence, just as the invisible wind is known when the leaves are moved and rustled as it passes.

Faith is meant to have real consequences in the lives of believers. Even though we may have to face storms and squalls in the circumstances of life, even if the very bark of Peter itself seems in danger of sinking, we can continue to live with the belief that nothing will ultimately be able to interfere with the Lord's ability to realize his promises in our lives.

He woke up,

rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Quiet! Be still!"

The wind ceased and there was great calm.

Then he asked them, "Why are you terrified?

Do you not yet have faith?"

If even the wind and sea obey Jesus what is force is there that could prevent him from achieving his purpose in our lives? Saint Paul was convicted that no such force existed or could exist.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,  neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord (See Romans 8:38-39).

All of this begins by thinking with assent about things for which we hope. But this itself is a gift and a grace that we ought not take for granted. It is something in which we can always seek to grow.

Lord, I believe; help my unbelief! (see Mark 9:24).

DC Talk - Mind's Eye

27 January 2023 - a great contest

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, 

you endured a great contest of suffering.

For most of us becoming a Christian did not lead to any kind of persecution, much less a great contest of suffering. For many years to be a Christian was more or less considered to be an honorable thing even as fewer and fewer in the culture identified as such. Being baptized and living a normal Christian life wasn't something that was going to raise any eyebrows. And so many of us were able to enjoy years of living as Christians without much or any material sacrifice. If anything, our Christianity seemed to make everything better for us. And praise God that we were never "exposed to abuse and affliction", that we didn't even know anyone who was so treated with whom we might associate ourselves.

Still, we wonder, if the comfortable Church, the Church that endured no contest of suffering, was in a way insufficiently challenged, and now finds itself untrained for a world that is increasingly opposed to its message. We wonder if even in the so-called good times there was time much desire to blend in and not rock the boat, to eschew the radical Gospel living of saints for the conformity of a merely cultural religion. 

You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison 

and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, 

knowing that you had a better and lasting possession.

Now we are beginning to find ourselves in a world where Christians are again persecuted and even thrown in prison. We think fondly of Cardinal Pell of Australia in this regard, and he was not alone. Fortunately, this level of persecution still seems to be the exception rather than the rule. For those of us for whom persecution still seems distant that it is happening can be all call to be prepared, to resolve that we too would remain faithful to Christ no matter what. If we are able to associate ourselves with those being dishonored for Christ, or to join with the sufferings those imprisoned for him, at least spiritually, we will be less likely to be taken by surprise if we ourselves must take a stand for Jesus. 

You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised.

The author of Hebrews wanted to remind his readers that in this present life they were meant to live by faith, to have the endurance to continue to live by that faith in spite of circumstances. It was understood to be normal that those circumstances were not going to be immediately perfected or even perfectible before Jesus returned. Trying to hold on to tightly to a comfortable life in the world was the one sure way to lose it, because from the perspective of the walk of faith, that would mean drawing back and perishing. But the author of Hebrews was confident:

We are not among those who draw back and perish, 

but among those who have faith and will possess life.

Having said all of this about enduring faith in the face of persecutions might make many of us feel unprepared. And if it is unsettling we should seek to root ourselves more and more in our union with Christ, giving it greater priority, and even absolute allegiance, rather than privileged our merely temporary lives in the world. But honestly, we aren't meant to be able to anticipate how such theoretical challenges might feel. We are given grace only to deal with the actual situations in which we find ourselves in the present moment. And all the while we can be confident, if we remain faithful, that faith is growing secretly, beneath the soil.

Of its own accord the land yields fruit,

first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.

It is God himself who prepares the harvest. It is he who can make the smallest seeds amount to more than we could have ever guessed. We aren't meant to fear the future or even our own limitations, but rather we are trust in the one alone who is able to give the growth.

Newsboys - Step Up To The Microphone

26 January 2023 - power up

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Is a lamp brought in to be placed under a bushel basket

or under a bed, and not to be placed on a lampstand?

Paul desired that the shining light he knew filled both Timothy and Titus would not be hidden but rather placed on a lampstand. He recognized that Timothy had received "sincere faith" from his mother and grandmother. He knew Titus to be his "true child in our common faith". For this reason he was not afraid to entrust them with responsibility, such as leaving Titus in Crete to "set right what remains to be done and appoint presbyters in every town".

But Paul knew that Timothy and Titus would face obstacles and opposition just as Paul had. Even though they had sincere faith there was still the risk that they would give in to "a spirit of cowardice". One potential obstacle was youth, as in the case of Timothy, and so Paul told him "Let no one have contempt for your youth, but set an example for those who believe, in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity" (see First Timothy 4:12). Paul realized there were reasons people were typically skeptical about the young, so he advised, "turn from youthful desires and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord with purity of heart" (see Second Timothy 2:22). He believed deeply in the capability of both Timothy and Titus to perform the missions with which they were entrusted.

The challenge to both Timothy and Titus was to boldly live out their faith in a way that was exemplary and free from reproach. The greatest risk, according to Paul, was a spirit of cowardice. But the antidote was not a spirit of self-assured boldness. It was rather a spirit "of power and love and self-control" that was given by God. For Paul power was not some generic variety of strength that could be exerted in order to force one's will upon others. Rather, for Paul, it was Christ himself, and in particular the message of his cross, that was true power.

but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God (see First Corinthians 1:24)

The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God (see First Corinthians 1:18).

It is this sort of power, rooted in their identity in Christ, that was so closely tied to love and to self-control. It was the antidote to a spirit of cowardice, for what was left to fear in the face of the cross? It was the antidote to the rash boldness of youth; it was the great reversal that could make wise teachers and leaders even of the young. 

The Spirit that was given to Timothy and Titus had within himself all the power they would need, together with the love and the self-control that would direct them as they sought to use that power in order to bear their "share of hardship for the Gospel with the strength that comes from God". Yet it would not simply work automatically with no participation on their part.

For this reason, I remind you to stir into flame

the gift of God that you have through the imposition of my hands.

Although the promise was made "before time began", and although the gift of God had been given, it was still up to Timothy and Titus to ensure that the flames of that gift did not die out by seeking again and again to stir that gift back into flames. It was Christians who did this that became the ones whom Jesus said have and yet are given still more Those that failed to do so risked losing even the embers that may remained. How then, were they to fan this gift into flames? How are we to do so? If Christ himself was power, if his Spirit was the spirit of power, the flames that could overcome cowardice, we might infer that the closer we come to Christ and the more we open ourselves to his Spirit the more this fire of divine love will grow within us. Prayer, Scripture, the Sacraments, and Christian community are all places where the presence of Jesus is found. It is there that we learn to grow in docility to the Spirit, which allows his presence within us to enflame us with his love.

Hillsong - The Power Of Your Love

Lacrae x Zaytoven - Plugged In

25 January 2023 - good intentions

Today's Readings

(Audio)

24 January 2023 - shadow and substance

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Since the law has only a shadow of the good things to come,

and not the very image of them, it can never make perfect

those who come to worship by the same sacrifices

that they offer continually each year.

We should not pass over this mention of "shadow" too quickly, for from it we may learn a little about the mysterious ways in which the Lord works in history. This shadow that could never make perfect was nevertheless God's idea. It served a genuine though transitional purpose. We note with a degree of sadness that God's way is not typically that jumping straight to "the good things to come" without first preparing the way for those things. Thus the incarnation did not immediately follow the sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Instead a vast amount of time was allowed to elapse during which humanity was forced to come to terms with their need for salvation, and, as they become aware of this need, were taught to hope for a savior.

Otherwise, would not the sacrifices have ceased to be offered,

since the worshipers, once cleansed, would no longer

have had any consciousness of sins?

It is interesting that the shadows themselves seemed very concrete at the time, even visceral. The blood of bulls and goats was more, we might say, in your face, than the realities contained in the Sacraments. But that particular aspect of the shadows is redolent of pedagogy, as trying to make a lesson as apparent and difficult to miss as possible. 

But in those sacrifices there is only a yearly remembrance of sins,

for it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats

take away sins.

No doubt the constant and almost countless animal sacrifices, combined with a lack of progress in the holiness to which the people of Israel were called, led them to realize that something was missing. And if they did not realize it on their own God began to gradually teach them that these sacrifices themselves were pointing to something more that he wanted, something that could not come from animals.

Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,

but a body you prepared for me;

in burnt offerings and sin offerings you took no delight.

Then I said, As is written of me in the scroll,

Behold, I come to do your will, O God.

The sacrifices pointed demonstrated that life was meant to be surrendered, transformed, and shared, but were unable to make this possible for humanity. Instead they only demonstrated the ongoing need for it. Human nature was not in a condition to respond wholeheartedly and completely due to the concupiscence caused by original sin. But Jesus himself did not share this limitation. And he himself would offer what no one else could: perfect obedience.

These are offered according to the law.

Then he says, Behold, I come to do your will.

He takes away the first to establish the second.

By this "will," we have been consecrated

through the offering of the Body of Jesus Christ once for all.

The offering of Jesus was not offered instead of our own obedience. For the idea of sacrifice was always supposed to mean that each individual was in need of transformation. A forensic appropriation of only the status of Jesus of righteous would not make sense of the meaning of these shadows. Rather, he offered obedience first and for our sakes so that we could then, in union with him, participate in his own obedience. His one sacrifice, his perfectly obedient will, henceforth consecrated all of those united to him by faith in baptism to live as true sacrifices, to embrace all the demands of love.

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship (see Romans 12:1).

It is in embracing this heart of Jesus for his Father's will that we embrace his gift of himself to us, by which it becomes not just a promise, but a reality in our lives. We have been made daughters and sons by his gift. But we taste the full reality of this promise only when we allow him to share that which is deepest in his heart with us.

"Here are my mother and my brothers.

For whoever does the will of God

is my brother and sister and mother."

Todd Agnew - Romans 12:1

23 January 2023 - once and for all

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Christ is the mediator of the new covenant of which we, his Church, partake. He stands in the true sanctuary, in the presence of his Father, by the power of his own blood, with the offering of his once for all sacrifice. 

Not that he might offer himself repeatedly,

as the high priest enters each year into the sanctuary

with blood that is not his own;

Because Jesus offered himself, an offering infinitely superior to any other sacrifice, he did not need to repeat it. The sacrifice of his death on the cross was enough for all times and all places from the foundation of world, to our present age, and on to the end when he "will appear a second time" to bring the fullness of "salvation to those who eagerly await him".

But now once for all he has appeared at the end of the ages

to take away sin by his sacrifice.

It is true that the one offering of the life of Jesus was enough, even abundantly and extravagantly more than enough that it need never be repeated. But this does not put it into the same category as a single completed animal sacrifice. Such sacrifices had to be repeated ad infinitum in order to continue their (limited, symbolic) efficacy through time. Rather, the once for all sacrifice of Jesus was not merely a fact in history, but is now an eternally present reality in the true sanctuary of heaven. It is in this reality that the mass participates, by reason of which we refer to the mass as a proper sacrifice.

The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." 

- Catechism of the Catholic Church 1367.

The sacrifice of Christ in the mass is how we experience the power of the mediator of the new covenant opening the storehouse of his gifts for us. Before the Father he took away sin and still helps those of us who still struggle with sin to walk more and more in his freedom. And for us he gives the gifts that he himself has from the Father, including making us sons and daughters and giving us his Holy Spirit. Because of the power of the sacrifice of Jesus that is present in the mass, the mass is the perfect place to enter more deeply into all of these realities. It is the definitive demonstration that the weakness of God was stronger than human strength, strong enough to set free those who were held imprisoned under the jealous gaze of Satan.

But no one can enter a strong man's house to plunder his property

unless he first ties up the strong man.

By allowing himself to be bound Jesus bound Satan's power. By allowing himself to experience suffering and death he destroyed the one who had the power of death and was thereby able to "plunder his house" and set us free. Let us therefore not be divided in heart, with one foot still stuck in our former prison. If we want to truly know the promise of power of Jesus sacrifice for us we need to go all in. But, by definition, this is something that happens only when we stop insisting on reliance on our own strength which always comes up short. May we learn to allow the blood which is enough for the entire world, to cover us, to avail for us more and more. There are truly no limits on the potential for lives thus consecrated.

The LORD has made his salvation known:

in the sight of the nations he has revealed his justice.

Leah Mari - Nothing But The Blood

22 January 2023 - the people who sit in darkness

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested,

he withdrew to Galilee.

Jesus withdrew to Galilee, but not as a retreat. Although he did not go directly to confront Herod for imprisoning his cousin John and instead placed himself further from the sphere of Herod's influence, nevertheless his plan was not to go into hiding. It was rather to find the perfect place to reveal the life that was the light of men (see John 1:4) to the world without hindrance.

Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali,

the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan,

Galilee of the Gentiles,

He went to Capernaum by the sea, at the intersection of Zebulun and Naphtali, places that were among the first to experience conquest and exile by the Assyrians. Even into the time of Jesus these lands were thoroughly intermixed with "the Gentiles". Yet Matthew interpreted this move of Jesus to Capernaum in a remarkable way. Jesus was in some sense exiled from the lands of the south that were still more entirely Jewish in order to avoid the influence of Herod. But this exile brought him precisely to the peripheries, together with a people descended from the first in Israel to experience exile.  And it was the case that negative consequences still persisted from that time, that the people there still dwelt in a darkness that rendered them unable able to be fully what they were intended to be. How fitting that it was precisely there that Jesus would inaugurate his work of reuniting the lost tribes of Israel in "the kingdom of heaven". How appropriate that the first places to experience those dark consequences of covenant infidelity and sin were the first to see the great light of hope that Jesus offered.

the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light,

on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death

light has arisen.

Even the intermixing of the Gentiles was something allowed by God in his providence, so that, finally, he could not restore the tribes without also blessing the nations. Although Jesus was still focused on the lost sheep of the house of Israel it was nevertheless a hint that even the Gentiles would benefit from this light. Indeed, such had been the promise of Isaiah.

It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth (see Isaiah 49:6).

Maybe Matthew wasn't the only one to interpret the arrival of Jesus on the seen in Galilee in this way. It would help to explain the eagerness of those whom Jesus first called to follow him. Normal rabbis did not call their disciples, but rather were sought out by those who wished to follow them. But perhaps Peter, Andrew, James, and John, sensed, even unconsciously, that what they heard in the call of Jesus was in that very call his beginning the work of regathering the tribes around him.

“Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

At once they left their nets and followed him.

We too have many places in a world that we might describe as "in darkness", as a "land of gloom", and indeed as "a land overshadowed by death". Jesus demonstrated that where the darkness seemed to be the greatest, the most impenetrable, was precisely the place where he chose to reveal his light. For us too in our own day this mean that places steeped in darkness are actually among the leading candidates to receive the unsurpassable light and hope of God.

You have brought them abundant joy

and great rejoicing,

as they rejoice before you as at the harvest,

as people make merry when dividing spoils.

What is the gateway to the joy of the light of Christ? We must "repent" and embrace "metanoia", that is, a new and spiritual way of thinking and acting that is given to us by God, leaving behind our own habits and patterns of thinking that keep us entrenched in darkness. Repentance is emphatically not a path to a joyless life, but rather is the only way to embrace a life of true joy.

The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Songs In His Presence - His Name Shall Be Called

21 January 2023 - through the veil

Today's Readings

(Audio)

The old temple contained transitory images that reminded the people of Israel of God's faithfulness in the past and of their need for him in the present, but which above all pointed forward to the new and better realities which they merely foreshadowed. We hear about the fullness of these heavenly realities of these signs in the book of Revelation.

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands (see Revelation 1:12).

The chief point that the author of Hebrews seemed to be making was that the configuration of the earthly symbols emphasized the way they were separated from the people, that entry into the true Holy of Holies where the fullness of the presence of God was found remained closed. As the author wrote, "In this way the holy Spirit shows that the way into the sanctuary had not yet been revealed" (see Hebrews 9:8).

he entered once for all into the sanctuary, 

not with the blood of goats and calves but with his own Blood, 

thus obtaining eternal redemption.

The offerings that were established to be offered during the existence of the earthly temple could not truly open the way to the sanctuary because all they could do was "sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed", that is, in an external way that did not address the root problem of sin. By their endless repetition they really did reveal our need for a cleansing that would actually go deep enough to address this root cause.

how much more will the Blood of Christ, 

who through the eternal spirit offered himself unblemished to God,

cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God.

It was chiefly the problem of sin that relegated humanity to remain outside of the Holy of Holies, outside of God's presence. Immediately after the sin of our first parents in the Garden of Eden we witnessed them recognize that they could no longer dwell fully in the presence of God. 

And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden (see Genesis 3:8).

It was, in a way, as though their very clothing was the first veil of separation from God. This separation would continue to mark history until the veil placed over the presence of God was finally torn in two by Jesus himself.

And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split (see Matthew 27:51).

Jesus did with his own Blood what no amount of blood of goats and calves could ever do and opened the way for us to come into the fullness of the presence of God. This one offering was eternally accomplished by his death and resurrection, but the need to avail ourselves of it to cleanse our consciences remains, even for the baptized. Even Christians sometimes still fall back into dead works, whether those that are explicitly sinful, or those works in which we try to do with our own effort that which only God himself can do. But doing so is acting against the purpose for which we were created because we are meant to be creatures of worship, to worship in Spirit and truth. How does this cleansing continue in the lives of believers? Chiefly through the Sacraments and through spending time with Christ in prayer and in the reading of his word. It is by becoming united with Jesus himself that we come with him into the presence of the Father.

When his relatives heard of this they set out to seize him,

for they said, "He is out of his mind."

As we try to live more and more in union with Jesus himself we will perhaps discover that the world not only doesn't understand but is actively hostile to our attempts. Just as the relatives of Jesus tried to stop him, thinking it was for his own good, so too might we encounter opposition. If so, blessed are we.

Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven (see Matthew 5:11-12).

Matt Maher - Because He Lives

20 January 2023 - old and busted / new hotness

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Now our high priest has obtained so much more excellent a ministry

as he is mediator of a better covenant,

enacted on better promises.

The covenant that God made with Moses was lacking not in terms of what it commanded. The deficiency was that it did not provide power to carry out those commands. This was the reason that "they did not stand by my covenant". They knew what they ought to do and were forced to reckon with their inability to carry it out through their own effort of will. This was the time when, as Paul described, the law was like "the supervision of guardians and administrators" (see Galatians 4:2). What was mankind learning under this supervision? To hope for a savior, the mediator of a better covenant enacted on promises which could truly deliver.

But this is the covenant I will establish with the house of Israel

after those days, says the Lord:

I will put my laws in their minds

and I will write them upon their hearts.

We were made to be partakers of this new and everlasting covenant initially in our baptism, in which we  were united to the death and resurrection of Jesus. We died to the world of sin and rose again as heirs of the Father, sons and daughters in the Son. We were given new hearts, filled with the Spirit of the Father and the Son, and made able to stand by the covenant with the same strength with which the Son himself first embraced it as a mediator on our behalf.

Jesus was the mediator of this new and better covenant, the one he himself announced at the Last Supper, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood" (see Luke 22:20). This bread and this cup was precisely the one true sacrifice, the same sacrifice that was consummated on the cross, that could break the bondage of our sins fill us with the power of Jesus own resurrection. It was given in such a way that we could receive it into ourselves and, as it were, come to live upon it as our daily bread.

What were the promised results of this new covenant? They were the fulfillment of what God always intended: "I will be their God, and they shall be my people". And this would finally come about because "all shall know me, from least to greatest". The barrier of sin having been finally abolished, a deeply personal relationship with the Lord was now possible for each member of the new covenant. Unlike the old where only one person could enter into the fullness of the presence of God on one day a year it was now possible for everyone with faith to experience this presence.

But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him (see John 4:23).

Jesus appointed twelve apostles not in order to give them a deeper access to personal relationship with God but to make of them servants who made that relationship available to others. Jesus desired that they would do this by first making sure they were well grounded in it themselves, "that they might be with him". But they were not to remain there. The plan was that from that place of relationship he would "send them forth to preach" the Good News that this relationship to God was now available to everyone. And they were given special power to overcome any opposition, however, diabolical, to this purpose being fulfilled.

Today we can ask ourselves the degree to which the promises of this new covenant have been realized in our own lives. Do we truly know the Lord in a deep and personal way? To be able to do so was promised to all from least to greatest. Do the commandments feel like an arduous external imposition on our freedom? He promised that he would change us from the inside out, writing his law upon our hearts. For all of us there is always more room to grow. Especially as we receive him in the Eucharist let us open ourselves more to anything and everything he desires to do in us.

Truth shall spring out of the earth,

and justice shall look down from heaven.

Matt Maher, Lizzie Morgan - Leaning

19 January 2023 - better promises

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.

Jesus is a high priest who is able to do what the Levitical priests could not. Their ministry was limited by the facts that they were sinners and that they were mortal. Individual priests had to make an endless repetition of offerings just to keep up with their own sins and those of the people. And even that did not prove truly efficacious, in proof of which one generation of priests was succeeded by the next with no sign that the multiplication of sacrifices was ever going to be enough to suffice. Jesus was contrasted with those priests because his own sacrifice was in fact sufficient for all times and all places and was available to avail forever "since he lives forever to make intercession". 

It was fitting that we should have such a high priest: 

holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, 

higher than the heavens.

Jesus was the one who was the true innocent lamb of sacrifice, without spot or blemish, a lamb such as the law demanded be offered for Passover. Though he himself knew the human weakness of being tempted he never succumbed. He was therefore perfectly situated to be our high priest, with compassion for us, yet entirely unencumbered to minister for our sakes. So too was his offering uniquely perfect compared to the blood of animals offered according to the law, for the sacrifice Jesus offered was himself:

he did that once for all when he offered himself.

Jesus continues in his ministry as our high priest forever in a way that wouldn't make sense on earth. But because he ministers forever in heaven his one sacrifice for all was not constrained to be relevant only in one time and place as with those who "offer gifts according to the law". All of the worship in the earthly temple was revealed to be a mere shadowy prefigurement of what now happens in the true heavenly sanctuary. Those Levitical sacrifices were in fact only signs pointing forward to the one sacrifice that was truly necessary, that of Jesus himself, the lamb of God. By their repetition they showed that they were insufficient. It was fitting that these sacrifices ceased now that the perfect offering of Jesus himself had been offered. They were offered for something which they could never attain but which, in virtue of our heavenly high priest and his one offering, is now available for us and for all, unto the end of the world.

Now he has obtained so much more excellent a ministry 

as he is mediator of a better covenant, 

enacted on better promises.

Moses was the covenant mediator of the covenant that pertained to the sacrificial economy of the Levitical priesthood. But it was clear that such a role was too limited and time bound to help future generations. Jesus is a mediator who is more excellent in every way, not limited by time, by personal sin, who is entirely compassionate for us, and yet with divine power to save. Moses was a mediator taken from among men, but could not finally bridge the gap to God. Jesus alone, who was God and man, could be the perfect mediator and finally deliver on all of the promises of God that had seemed to have been negated by our human weakness.

He had cured many and, as a result, those who had diseases

were pressing upon him to touch him.

Jesus did not even allow the weakness of his humanity, his weariness and desire for solitude, to prevent his being available to those who sought him for healing. How much more so now that he is in heaven is he ready and able to save those who approach him. That salvation has in fact already been purchased, and is now and forever an acceptable offering before the eyes of the Father. Jesus himself lives forever to make intercession for us. Let us not be afraid to press upon him and touch him.

Kutless - Take Me In

18 January 2023 - a priest forever

Today's Readings

(Audio)

Melchizedek was a mysterious figure who appeared on the scene briefly in the Old Testament, blessed Abraham, received Abraham's tithe, and then disappeared into history. Yet it was clear that his appearance had a meaning that went beyond that that incident. Psalm 110 took up the idea of the priesthood of Melchizedek as something that the Messiah would also share. He would be "a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek" (see Psalm 110:4).

Without father, mother, or ancestry,

without beginning of days or end of life,

thus made to resemble the Son of God, he remains a priest forever.

But how could the Messiah be a priest, when the Messiah was to come from the tribe of Judah, not that of Levi? He could only do so if the criteria of his priestly line was not based on his ancestry and genealogy. Melchizedek's own priesthood was the precedent for this, not dependent on the Levitical line. Further, Genesis made no mention of his death, whereas it was preoccupied with recording the length of life of others. It was as though, in some sense, he remained forever. This pointed forward to Jesus, who, in virtue of his resurrection, was truly established in his priesthood forever. We should pay close attention to the next line:

It is even more obvious if another priest is raised up

Jesus was the the priest who was indeed "raised up" after the pattern of Melchizedek, elevated to a priesthood that was not based on the Mosaic law, not dependent on physical descent from a certain tribe, but was rather established "by the power of a life that cannot be destroyed". If anyone was to truly be a priest forever it could only be the risen Lord Jesus Christ.

His name first means righteous king,

Jesus himself was the "Righteous one" (see Acts 22:14) and the "the firstborn of the dead and ruler of the kings of the earth" (see Revelation 1:5), the "the King of kings and Lord of lords" (see First Timothy 6:15).

and he was also "king of Salem," that is, king of peace.

Jesus was the one who alone could give peace that this world could not give (see John 14:27), the one promised by Isaiah as the "prince of peace" (see Isaiah 9:6).

By perfectly fulfilling the precedent set by Melchizedek Jesus was revealed as the perfect and everlasting high priest, capable of establishing his people in the righteousness and peace that were his prerogatives, able to do so for ever by the power of his indestructible risen life.

Let us come to the high priest who is truly able to heal us, cleanse us of sin, and grant us peace. He is about the business of doing good, saving life, rather than destroying it. We should trust him, trust him with more than a tenth of everything. Yet our hand is withered and we fear to reach out. But let us only take courage and reach for him and we will be restored.

Jesus said to the man, "Stretch out your hand."

He stretched it out and his hand was restored.

Oslo Gospel Choir - You Are Holy (My Prince Of Peace)

17 January 2023 - promise keeper

Today's Readings

(Audio)

When God made the promise to Abraham,

since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,

and said, I will indeed bless you and multiply you.

We are meant to be among those who, by faith, inherit the promises that God made to Abraham, since a part of those promises was that all nations would be blessed through him. 

So when God wanted to give the heirs of his promise

an even clearer demonstration of the immutability of his purpose,

he intervened with an oath,

so that by two immutable things,

in which it was impossible for God to lie,

We are meant to be the heirs of his promise. Therefore, these clear demonstrations of the immutability of his purpose are meant to help us just as the have strengthened those throughout history who, "through faith and patience, are inheriting the promises". 

so that by two immutable things,

in which it was impossible for God to lie,

God who is truth itself cannot lie. But human words come with no such guarantee. Since we hear so many more human words than those of God we tend to assume that everything we hear similarly insubstantial and flimsy, ready to bend to every circumstance. In the instance of his oath of blessing God was not content to leave things merely at the level of his word, not content that the assurance of his word might be conflated with the lake thereof in human words. He wanted to draw our attention to the immutability, the unchangeable nature of what he was saying. 

we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged

to hold fast to the hope that lies before us.

We can be strongly encouraged, legitimately strengthened in the Christian life, by the hope that the promise and the oath of God to bless us can give. Because it is God himself who made the promise it can be a genuine "anchor of the soul" that keeps us secure amidst the changing vicissitudes of the world.

which reaches into the interior behind the veil,

where Jesus has entered on our behalf as forerunner,

The certainty of this promise has already been demonstrated by Jesus who has gone before us. He himself is the unchanging Word of God, the guarantee of the hope of all who hope in him. He took upon himself everything that might stand against our inheriting the promise, everything that might have been an obstacle. He himself is the anchor which does not merely keep us fixed in place but which draws us inexorably into the fullness of the presence of God where he now abides. 

The sabbath was made for man, not man for the sabbath.

The sabbath is another demonstration of that which the author of the Letter to Hebrews was demonstrating through the promise and the oath: God has made us for himself, and that his chief desire is to bring us into the fullness of relation with him. He designed the sabbath to be a place where we might learn to take "refuge" in him. So too were his oath and promise and ordered toward coming to know the fullness of the sabbath rest together with him forever.

Leeland - Way Maker